<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><p style="margin-top: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; "><strong><font color="#007057" size="2" face="Verdana">After Fracking Win, Oil and Gas Lease Sales Called Off in Calif.</font></strong></p><p style="margin-top: 0em; margin-right: 0em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0em; "><font size="2"><font face="Verdana"><img border="1" align="left" width="125" vspace="4" hspace="4" height="125" alt="Fracking rig" style="border-top-color: rgb(180, 180, 180); border-right-color: rgb(180, 180, 180); border-bottom-color: rgb(180, 180, 180); border-left-color: rgb(180, 180, 180); " id="ba1ae9ca-412f-478e-b4df-072eca272a70" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" src="cid:AA0E5B08-42C7-4FE7-B172-D665A085235C">Just weeks after the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club won a major victory against fracking in California, the Bureau of Land Management has postponed all oil and gas lease sales in the Golden State for the rest of the fiscal year. The court ruling last month found that the Obama administration violated the law by leasing California's public land for oil development without considering the risks of fracking.<br><br>The BLM originally cited only sequester-related budget cuts as the reason for postponing oil and gas leases in California for this year -- but lease sales continue in other states, and the agency ultimately acknowledged that the Center's lawsuit win influenced their cancellation decision.<br><br>"Whether the BLM admits it or not, the agency knows it can't lawfully hold additional lease sales in California without a full environmental review of the serious risks fracking poses to our air, water and wildlife," says the Center's Brendan Cummings. "The BLM's decision to cancel planned lease sales in California for 2013 is a welcome sign that the agency finally recognizes that its rubber-stamp approach to oil leasing is no longer viable."<br><br>Read more in the <a href="http://org.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=cVrD3ehoIcA3MolhoFEYEx2yWGK5fW9w" style="color: rgb(0, 112, 87); text-decoration: underline; "><i>San Jose Mercury News</i></a>.</font></font></p></body></html>